Kevin Hart’s 1970 Barracuda Totaled In Crash
The resto-mod 1970 Barracuda actor Kevin Hart just took delivery of was totaled in a crash just before 1:00 AM Sunday morning. According to the California West Valley Highway Patrol police report the crash happened on Mulholland Highway and Cold Canyon Road. It says the driver lost control and veered off of the road at a curve and rolled down an embankment. It landed in a ravine on its top. A copy of the report is below:
Hart was riding with the driver, who was identified as Jared Black, and sustained “major back injuries” from the crash. The Malibu Fire Department used the jaws of life to remove the top before extricating them. The CHP says the driver was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center. The woman was not seriously injured and “would seek her own aid” according to the report.
No Alcohol Involved Says CHP
Police say the driver had not been drinking according to the CHP report. Witnesses say Hart was the first person out of the wreckage and was picked up by friends. The police say he went home “to get medical attention” but eventually was also treated at Northridge Hospital in Northridge.
It’s not clear how serious Hart’s injuries were, but his wife recently told TMZ that he is “going to be just fine.”
Hart took delivery of the Barracuda in July as a present to himself for his 40th birthday and had just posted a picture of himself with the car earlier Saturday. It was powered by a modern 6.2-liter Hellcat Hemi engine backed by an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. The work was performed by Speedkore Performance Group in Grafton, Wisconsin.
SpeedKore Source For Hollywood Celebs
This isn’t the first resto-mod Speedkore has done for Hollywood celebs. Robert Downey Jr. purchased a 1970 Ford Mustang powered by a late-model Ford 5.0-liter Coyote V8 last year. Chris Evans, who played Captain America in the Marvel cinematic world had Speedkore build a 1967 Camaro for him.
Besides the upgraded and modernized interior, the Barracuda featured a lot of carbon fiber panels which can be seen (or what’s left of them) in some of the engine compartment crash images. Speedkore also fabricated the hood, front fenders, bumpers, valances and header panel all from carbon fiber.
The instrument panel, console, seats, and door panels received the custom treatment and do not look like anything that came from the Plymouth factory in 1970. The gauge cluster was whittled out of aluminum.
Hart’s Barracuda Shown At Car Shows
Besides appearing at the 2018 SEMA Show in Las Vegas last November, it was also displayed at the 2019 Grand National Roadster Show in January at the LA County Fairgrounds in Pomona, California.
It would appear that the ‘Cuda is completely totaled, but a lot of the parts and most of the interior appear to be salvageable. Depending on Hart’s desire and he or his insurance company’s deep pockets another car could be fashioned as a twin to his wrecked Plymouth.
Hopefully the next time anyone who drives it will understand that with the weight reduction from the carbon fiber components, and over 700 hp under the hood, this thing is a rocket ship on wheels. Without the experience to handle so much power, and respect this amount of power demands, this could happen again with much more dire consequences.
